Judge E. Susan Garsh set the trial date during a pretrial motion hearing today in which Singleton's lawyer, E. Peter Parker, was looking to combine her contempt case with a conspiracy to commit accessory after the fact charge that she is also facing.

Parker argued that combining the cases made sense because the charges were related and that it would have made it easier for Singleton, whose resources are limited and whose health has deteriorated since her arrest last summer.

Singleton, who has been battling breast cancer, has not been responding well to chemotherapy and has been hospitalized four times in the last month for neurological issues related to the chemotherapy, Parker said.

Parker also voiced concern that two separate trials could prejudice Singleton to jurors. However, Garsh sided with prosecutors who argued that the cases are not related and that justice does not require they be combined.

Singleton's contempt trial is expected to last one day, not counting jury selection, prosecutors said.

Singleton is charged with contempt for allegedly refusing to testify before a Bristol County grand jury that heard evidence last summer in the July 2013 murder of Odin Lloyd in North Attleborough. Singleton refused to testify even after she had been given inmunity, prosecutors said.

Singleton is also facing a conspiracy charge for allegedly trying to help Hernandez's two alleged accomplices flee Massachusetts during the murder investigation. No trial date had been set for the conspiracy case.